Mindo Butterfly Farm (Mariposas de Mindo)

Great day to learn about the what Ecuador has to offer! We went to the center of the world, a hummingbird garden, a butterfly garden, chocolate factory, drove through a cloud forest, and zip lining. One thing that surprised us and was not disclosed (at least we didn't see it) was we needed to bring cash to pay for all the places he brought us. It was not expensive, but we used all the cash we had on this excursion.

This tour, which we arranged through Viator, was through Andean Roots. Our guide, Christian, was more than we expected. He was friendly, polite, and so informative. He was a great driver, as the roads can be a challenge. We saw hummingbirds, orchids, butterflies and toured an artisanal chocolate factory. We had a delightful trip seeing a part of Ecuador we had not seen before. It would not have been as good had we not had such an excellent guide.

We had a wonderful day on our tour. Our guide, Patricio, was absolutely top-notch and went out of his way to ensure that we had a great time. Patricio is Ecuadorian, born in Ecuador, and raised in the Toronto area so he speaks perfect Spanish and English. We enjoyed the very informative tour of the Yumbos Chocolate artisan factory, that produces incredible chocolate and supports local women's coops. We then toured up the Mindo river to watch the rafters. It was then off to the Marioposario Nathaly to photograph hummingbirds, orchids, and butterflies. After delicious lunch, we started back towards Quito with a stop in the town of Calacali at one of the Equator monuments. It was off to Inti Nan Museum, referred to as the "real equator", where we had fun balancing eggs on the head of a nail and experimenting with draining tubs on each side of the equator and watching the direction of the water as it drained. Patricio then took us back to our hotel at the end of the tour.

We skipped the humming birds, as had seen them on our tour, but the butterfly area was nice, with plenty of varied butterflies. The chocolate factory was my real draw, and it was excellent. We were shown from start to finish how the choc. bar was made, given a plate of fruit and thick choc in which to dip it, a shot glass of choc. liqueur, and finally, a tray of samples of the various kinds of bars they made. I was positively high on chocolate when we finally left! Marcus was an excellent guide for this. He answered questions when asked, and also took us to see the original Mitad al Mundo monument, as he said we might not see it if not. Very nice man.